Scottsdale Arts Will Receive Grants From The National Endowment For The Arts and Terra Foundation

Scottsdale Arts has announced two prestigious grants for an upcoming exhibition at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA).

The Terra Foundation for American Art will support the SMoCA exhibition with a $60,000 grant to be awarded in June, and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has approved Scottsdale Arts for a Grant for Art Projects award of $50,000. Both grants will support the exhibition “transfeminisms,” which will run from Feb. 22 through Aug. 25, 2025, at SMoCA, part of the nonprofit Scottsdale Arts.

The NEA will award 1,135 Grants for Arts Projects awards — totaling more than $37 million — as part of its second round of fiscal year 2024 grants.

“Projects like SMoCA’s ‘transfeminisms’ exhibition exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connection and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “So many aspects of our communities, such as cultural vitality, health and wellbeing, infrastructure and the economy are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and the National Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring people across the country benefit.”

The Terra Foundation for American Art, established in 1978 and having offices in Chicago and Paris, supports organizations and individuals locally and globally with the aim of fostering intercultural dialogues and encouraging transformative practices that expand narratives of American art through the foundation’s grant program, collection and initiatives.

“transfeminisms” is a major survey touring show that began in March 2024 at London’s Mimosa House. The exhibition outlines strategies of resistance through propositions of collective action, care and radical imagination to generate a more equitable future. “transfeminisms” explores the lineage of feminist art practices by facilitating dialogue between emerging and more established artists.

“It is always an honor to receive recognition from organizations like the National Endowment for the Arts and the Terra Foundation for American Art,” said Jennifer McCabe, director and chief curator at SMoCA. “These grants, along with a previously announced grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, support an upcoming exhibition that highlights a multiplicity of pressing and ongoing issues faced by women and queer and trans people across the globe. Funding from and partnership with these organizations energizes and amplifies our efforts to shed light on communities that are not always visible, and for that, we are grateful.”

“transfeminisms” is organized by Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) with Mimosa House and curated by Christine Eyene, Daria Khan, Jennifer McCabe and Maura Reilly. Assistant curators are Sandra Lam, Keshia Turley and Jessica Wan. Global curatorial advisors are Camille Auer, Giulia Casalini, Natasha Ginwala, Snejana Krasteva, Natalia Sielewicz, Gabriela Rangel, Lucía Sanromán, Olia Sosnovskaya, Stefanie Hessler and Indira Ziyabek.

SMoCA — named “Best Art Museum” by the Phoenix New Times in the 2023 Best of Phoenix awards — is located at 7374 E. Second St., Scottsdale, Arizona 85251. It is open Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Visit SMoCA.org for information.

Admission is $10–$12 for non-members; $7–$9 for students, seniors (65+) and veterans; and free for Scottsdale Arts ONE Members, healthcare workers, first responders, and patrons 18 and younger. Admission to the museum is pay-what-you-wish every Thursday and every second Saturday of the month. Save time and money by booking online at SMoCA.org.

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